Ode to a Compost Toilet

Last week I was invited by a friend to see their poo, in a compost toilet.  An earlier post here on Sallygardens about the possibility of using compost toilets and tree bogs got so much attention and feedback from readers that I thought I'd keep you filled in on my humanure adventures.

Many people have a compost toilet indoors which they empty every few days into an outdoor compost heap. This is the most efficient way for the composting process to work. Others build a compost toilet outdoors which is what my friend has done. He uses it as much as possible, even though he has a conventional indoor flushable toilet. As he explains, it's such a waste to flush away all those nutrients which are simply going to pollute the local groundwater via his 'legal' septic tank system. It makes much more ecological sense to reuse the household human waste by composting it aerobically which means all the pathogens are killed over the course of a years composting and when done properly does not contaminate groundwater or create any bad smells. It also saves enormously on water usage in the home, it makes no sense to use water in vast quantities which has been cleaned expensively to flush away human waste. He far prefers to take a dump outdoors in his tree bog, looking out on nature.

The outdoor tree bog of his type needs emptying out once every year or two and I was invited to come along to watch. I wanted to see for myself how human manure composts and see if it smelled at all. When it was prized open there were a few bits of toilet paper on the top layer, but no smell and there was no visible evidence of what one might expect to see. The entire pile was sweet smelling, earthy, dark and crumbly. It resembled peat moss in composition and was delightful in appearance and aroma, it was quite impossible to equate this lovely nutrient rich and moist (but not soggy) earth with its former appearance. I also immediately thought how infinitely more pleasant it is to deal with this sweet smelling compost than with the dreaded anaerobic stinking bath of toxic wretch inducing swill that fills our septic tanks and quite often requires unblocking and emptying.

My vote is for compost toilets.

Comments

[Stell]

What a great idea and it has given me an idea for our own garden. It would save on tramping mud through the house when I need to go! Just one question, what do they use the compost for?

[Rebecca (Sallygardens Smallholding author)]

If you read the book Humanure Handbook you'll be convinced that the manure is suitable for use on any crop if composted correctly. It's not rocket science.

If not, you can use it on crops that don't come into direct contact with the manure, such as fruit trees, tomato plants, corn plants, or garden plants.

[Andy]

My friend has been using compost loos in rural Herefordshire for years. His are dug into the ground, not raised up. he can do that because the ground is very sandy and drains well. He's on his third 'hole' now, and has used the compost for his fruit trees.

As a kid I used a compost loo in Gloucestershire. It was in a stone built out-house of an old rural cottage. it was never ever cleared out in all the time I was there, it just decayed away to 'nothing' - I bet thats some pretty well matured compost by now - 30 years later!

[Andy]

I forgot to say we used to 'flush' it with buckets of water -completely the WRONG thing to do, but we didnt know that. We should have added a handfull of straw, wood chip or sawdust in stead - stupid city dwellers eh!

[Lorna]

Hiya Rebecca,
Stumbled across your blog by chance when googling info on sallygardens. This is the first I've heard of the treebog and will be defo giving it a try. Your set-up is very impressive and the blog is super-inspiring. I'll be keeping an eye on it :-) My partner is doing a course this Sunday on beekeeping down in Seedsavers so maybe we could come check out your hives some time? All the best, Lorna

[Maddy]

well I never, now there is something I didn't know. I always thought you couldn't compost humane waste as it is filled with bacteria. And no smell? Amazing!

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I think there will just a few people who did this kind of composting, though it's really amazing. I do have a compost heap at home and it really do wonders to my plants.

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I also immediately thought how infinitely more pleasant it is to deal with this sweet smelling compost than with the dreaded anaerobic stinking bath of toxic wretch inducing swill that fills our septic tanks and quite often requires unblocking and emptying.